Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

This is my book club's current month's selection.  I didn't expect to like it as much as I did.  I knew it would be a somewhat interesting story, but I generally prefer reading novels to non-fiction.  But this wasn't a somewhat interesting story; it was fascinating.  Greg Mortenson wandered into a small rural village in Pakistan after a failed attempt to climb K2 in 1993.  The villagers took him in, fed him, and nursed him back to health.  When he learned that the village didn't have a school, but the children met in the open, kneeling on frosty ground, to practice lessons that a neighboring village's teacher left for them, he promised to build them a school.  The book traces how Mortenson kept his promise.  Mortenson is now the director of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), which has built at least 55 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  It has also awarded scholarships to graduates who wish to further their education, assisted in teacher training, and provided resources for clean drinking water and sanitation.  CAI's motto is Peace and Hope Begin With Education: One Child At A Time.  I highly recommend this book.

Daisy Miller by Henry James

I have mentioned in other posts that I haven't read very many classics.  I decided I wanted to read this book a couple of years ago after listening to the audio version of Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, since it is one of the books discussed in that book.  It was very short - really more of a novella than a novel - and so I finished it in just a couple of days.  It is about an American man (Winterbourne) who has lived in Geneva most of his life.  In a resort town in Switzerland, he meets a beautiful, rich young American woman (Daisy Miller) who is traveling in Europe with her mother and her younger brother.  She is an innocent flirt, and Winterbourne is quite charmed by her.  She goes to Rome shortly after they meet.  Winterbourne goes to Rome a few weeks later and is dismayed to learn that Daisy has been seeing a handsome Italian and has scandalized the American community with her behavior.  I'm glad I read it, but have to admit I was glad it wasn't any longer; I prefer a more modern writing style.  I rate it 3 out of 5.

A Life in Hand - Creating the Illuminated Journal by Hannah Hinchman

This was a fast and easy read with some good information; not a lot in depth, but enjoyable.  The first quote that really struck home with me was this one:

Is there an ideal time to begin a journal?  A person at fifty-five may be in the midst of profound life changes, but thinks it's too late to start one, that it wouldn't make any sense because so much of his/her life has elapsed.  But it doesn't work that way.  When you begin a journal, it's like arriving at a mountain pass.  Even though it has taken you days to get there, as you look back, the whole route is open to your inspection.  Facing ahead, you're in a good position to look at the country before you, and choose possible routes from there.  (pg.17-20)

I am not in the midst of profound life changes, but I am fifty-five.   So this must be an ideal time for me to begin a journal (I've actually been keeping a journal off and on for the past 2-3 years, but I want to be more consistent with it).  Another quote that resonated with me:

The habit of keeping a journal changes the way you absorb experience. (pg. 129)

And this one, in a section titled MOMENTS OF TRUE WAKEFULNESS:

By making a record of what you have seen with a note, a phrase, a sketch, or a lengthy, absorbed drawing, you make it your own.  Next time you turn to look again, the world will be a degree richer and more distinct, and you will belong to it more completely. (pg. 144)

She recommends an inclusive journal where you record all kinds of things:  sketches, thoughts, quotes, recipes, lists, addresses, etc.  And that you carry your journal with you everywhere so you would at least use it for practical things.  This was my 20th book for The New Author Challenge 2010, and I rate it 3 out of 5.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

I was a little disappointed with this book.  The story had so much promise; it starts in 1986 with Henry Lee standing outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown.  The new owner of the hotel, which has been closed for years, has discovered property that once belonged to Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II.  Henry, a Chinese American, thinks of his childhood friend, Keiko Okabe, and her family, and wonders whether any of their property is there.  It goes back and forth between the present and the past, telling how the two became friends in spite of the prejudice of Henry's father.   It could have been a really great book, but it was predictable and overly sentimental, and not that well written.  I rate it 3 out of 5, because in spite of my comments, I still enjoyed the story enough to finish the book.  It was my 19th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.

A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton

This is a new author to me, and I really like her writing style.  In the last book I reviewed, I stated "I don't know enough about writing to be able to put into words what I like and what I don't like, but some writing just seems to sing . . ."  That was true of this book.  I have ordered 3 of her other books from PaperBack Swap because I liked this one so much.

It is the story Alice and Howard Goodwin and their 2 daughters, Emma and Claire.  Howard's dream was to be a dairy farmer, and so they purchased a dairy farm in Wisconsin a few years before the beginning of the book.  Alice is a nurse at the elementary school.  They don't fit in with their neighbors.  In fact, only one other family is friends with them:  Theresa and Dan Collins and their daughters Lizzy and Audrey.  Theresa and Alice take turns caring for all 4 girls one day a week in the summers.  On one of those days, when Alice is in charge of the girls, she gets distracted for a few minutes and Lizzy drowns in the Goodwin's pond.  Alice feels responsible and becomes more and more depressed.  Then Alice is charged with sexual abuse of one of the students at the elementary school where she works.  The story is told first by Alice, then by Howard, and then again by Alice.  It is my 18th book for the New Author Challenge 2010 and I rate it 5 out of 5.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

This is the first graphic novel I've ever read.  The author tells the story of her childhood growing up in Tehran between the ages of 6 and 14.  She witnessed the overthrow of the Shah, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the war with Iraq.  It is both a personal story and a political one, and I found it an interesting way to tell her story.  It was my 17th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rate it 3 out of 5.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Iowa farmer Larry Cook decides to pass his 1000-acre farm to his 3 daughters.  When his youngest daughter Caroline questions whether that's a good idea, he cuts her out altogether.  Everything spirals downhill as suspicion and accusations fly and terrible events of the past are remembered.  This is the first book I've read by this author, and I really enjoyed her writing; I will read other books by her.  It is my 16th book for the New Author Challenge 2010 (my goal was 15 books, but I will continue to report on books I read by authors who are new to me).  I rate this book 4 out of 5.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

This story deals with the isolation that is common to people no matter what their income or race or status.  It centers around a deaf-mute, John Singer, in a southern mill town in the 1930's, and the various people who are drawn to him:

Mick Kelly, a 14 year old tomboy who loves music.
Dr. Copeland, a well-educated African American doctor.
Jake Blount, an alcoholic carnival worker and labor organizer.
Biff Brannon, a cafe owner and silent observer of his patrons.

The book was very well written and I rate it 4 out of 5.  It is my fifteenth book for the New Author Challenge 2010 (my goal was 15 books - so I met my goal!) and my book club's current month's selection.

Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann

Paco was the only survivor of a massacre at Fire Base Harriette, a location that was supposed to be safe.  He is left for dead for 2 days before he is found by a medic from another company.  Once Paco returns to the US, he takes a bus as far as his money will take him, ending up in a small town in Texas.  He gets a job as a dishwasher, working for a WWII veteran.  He is haunted by his memories of Vietnam and the ghosts of his dead comrades.  We don't learn anything about what Paco was like before the war or whether he had any family or friends to return to.  It is a very disturbing story about how badly returning soldiers were treated and how little support there was for them.  This was my 5th book for the Vietnam War Reading Challenge, and my 14th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rated this book 3 out of 5.

Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott

When historian Elizabeth Vogelsang is found drowned, her son Cameron Brown asks his former lover Lydia Brooke to finish Elizabeth's manuscript about Isaac Newton.  Elizabeth had been researching Newton's involvement with alchemy as well as several mysterious deaths that occurred in Cambridge during Newton's time there.  Lydia agrees to finish the manuscript and is drawn into Newton's world.  Cameron is a neuroscientist who has been targeted by animal rights activists, and this adds to the suspense of the book.  I found the book to be well written, and I enjoyed it, although some of the sections that were supposed to be Elizabeth's manuscript got a bit tedious.  Lydia was the narrator of most of the book, and she was writing it to Cameron, which was a different voice than I'm used to, but it worked.  I rate it 4 out of 5.  This is my 13th book (out of my goal of 15) for the New Author Challenge 2010.

In The Image by Dara Horn

I found this book to be quite enjoyable and also quite different from most books I've read.  Sometimes it's hard to describe a book, so I'm going to resort to part of what is written on the back cover:

"In the Image follows a young New Jersey woman, Leora, through the death of a friend in high school and on to college, career, and falling in love.  Simultaneously, it traces the story of Bill Landsmann, her lost friend's grandfather, back through several generations of experience in Amsterdam, Austria, and New York's Lower East Side."

This is my 12th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rate this book 4 out of 5.

Fatal Light by Richard Currey

The narrator (a high school senior) receives his draft notice in 1967 and must report for duty as soon as he graduates.  He becomes a medic in Vietnam.  The book is short (fewer than 200 pages).  It isn't a traditional novel with beginning, middle, and end; it is a series of very short chapters that are snippets of the narrator's life.  But it is well written and the structure works.  This is my 3rd book for the Vietnam War Reading Challenge and my 11th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rate this book 3 out of 5.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

This is a historical novel about Ann Eliza Young, one of many wives of Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church.  It tells her life story, beginning with her parents and their plural marriage.  In 1875, several years after Ann Eliza is more or less trapped into marrying Brigham Young, she loses her faith, sues for divorce, and goes on a lecture circuit, trying to put an end to polygamy.   She was mostly successful in her quest; the Mormon Church officially ended the practice of polygamy in 1890.  However, a group of fundamentalists broke away from the Church (calling themselves the First and True Latter-day Saints) and continue to practice polygamy to this day.

This is also a modern day murder mystery; Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of the Firsts as an adolescent, returns to find out who killed his father.  His mother (19th wife of his father) has been arrested for the murder.

The book is written primarily in first person, but the "first person" changes throughout.  There are chapters of the book written by Ann Eliza, letters and papers from various characters, and the current day narrative by Jordan.  It is an effective way of telling the story, and I found it to be well written and enjoyable.  This was my 10th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rate this book 4 out of 5.

Queen of Camelot by Nancy McKenzie

I have read many many books about the Arthurian Legend, and this is another one.  This one is written from Guinevere's point of view.  As the book opens, Lancelot comes to Guinevere to tell her that Arthur and Mordred are both dead, and he has had a vision that she should write the story of her life.  So the rest of the book is Guinevere's life story, told in her own words.  It is well written and enjoyable.  I have always liked the legend, which is why I've read so many different versions.  But because I've read so many versions, I was glad when the book was finished.  I think I need to give this story a rest for awhile.  This is my 9th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rate this book 4 out of 5.

The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen

Kien Nguyen is the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American serviceman.  He was 8 years old when he and his family watched the last US helicopter leave Vietnam without them.  The next 10 years of his life were filled with one nightmare after another.  The family had been wealthy before the fall of Saigon, but they lost everything when the Communist regime took over.  And because Kien was Amerasian, he was the target of hatred and bigotry.  Unfortunately I didn't think the book was very well written.  The dialogue in particular wasn't believable.  But the story was certainly compelling and the book was worth reading anyway.  This was my second book for the Vietnam War Reading Challenge and my eighth book for the New Author Challenge 2010.  I rate the book 3 out of 5.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

In July, 1942, 10-year-old Sarah and her parents are arrested by the French police, who are cooperating with the German Gestapo to round up all of the Jews in Paris.  Because Sarah believes they will back home soon, she locks her younger brother in a cupboard, their secret hiding place, to protect him.  Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist living in Paris, is researching the roundup for a story she is writing for her magazine.  She becomes obsessed with learning what happened to Sarah.  The early chapters alternate back and forth between the past and the present.  It was a very moving and heartbreaking story, and I rate it 5 out of 5.  It is my 7th book for the New Author Challenge 2010.

Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by the Emperor of Hindustan in the 17th century as a monument to his beloved wife.  The Emperor's daughter, Princess Jahanara, tells the story to her two granddaughters many years after the fact, and also tells about her forbidden love for the architect.  The author does a good job of making the events and characters real.  The further along I read, the better the story got, until near the end, I couldn't put it down.  I rate it 4 out of 5.  This is my sixth book for the New Author Challenge.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

While this novel is labeled as historical fiction, it is the mostly true story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the woman who lived with Frank Lloyd Wright for several years without the benefit of marriage.  Mamah and her husband Edwin hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build a house for them, and during the building process, Frank and Mamah fell in love.  Mamah was a very well educated, independent woman, even by today's standards, but especially for her times.  While she was eventually able to divorce Edwin, Frank's wife would not agree to a divorce.  Mamah and Frank went to Europe together, and when they returned to the US, Frank bought property in Wisconsin and built a home for himself and Mamah.  I knew very little of the personal life of Frank Lloyd Wright, and I had never heard of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, so I found it to be an interesting story.  I rate the book 3 out of 5.  It is my 5th book for the New Authors Challenge.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Set in England in 1171, four children have been brutally murdered.  The townspeople blame the Jews, who are placed under the protection of King Henry II for their own safety.  Because the king needs the taxes paid by the Jewish merchants, he asks his cousin, the King of Sicily, for help, because the best medical doctors in Europe are some of his subjects and include an early form of medical examiner.  But he sends Adelia, who is viewed with suspicion everywhere she goes.  It is a fascinating story of superstition, prejudice, and intolerance.  I rate it 4 out of 5.  This is my 4th book for the New Author Challenge.

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

John Wade has just lost a primary election for the U.S. Senate.  He and his wife escape to a remote cabin in northern Minnesota.  A few days later his wife disappears.  The story moves backwards and forwards in time.  Through flashbacks, we learn about John's difficult childhood, his love of magic, his service in Vietnam, and his political ambitions.  The author presents a variety of theories for what might have happened.  He also presents a great deal of information about motivations and how it is impossible to really know another person.  It was extremely well written, and I rate it 5 out of 5.

This was my first book for the Vietnam War Reading Challenge, my third book for the New Author Challenge, and the current month's selection for my book club.